"They're wavering," Verena frowned, looking at the magic screen displayed across the wall of the private room her and Draugner were sharing to watch the latest antics of the summoned heroes. "What do you think, do we move the second stage up?"

"Ugh, it couldn't come at a worse time." Draugner had his head in his hands, looking exhausted. "It's taken me ages to finish the latest security patch to make sure none of my other fragments get lost, and that b*tch Melphinoe is already starting to make her move as well."

"Do you have confirmation she was the one behind the theft of the fragment you left in that Ren kid?"

"Confirmation?" Draunger snorted. "How would I get confirmation about anything regarding someone who's completely cut herself off from the rest of us? She only uses undead as servants, so nobody's even managed to get spies near her for millennia. Not to mention her capability as a soul mage. No, no confirmation, but why else would she choose now to move against Ceren? Even if she isn't intending to interfere in our game precisely, it's clear she's choosing now to get involved with the politics of the Divine Court."

Draugner sighed. "Luckily the group that's wavering has your child in it, so we still have some influence to play. Plus they're the smallest group so the other gods shouldn't care too much. How goes the recruitment strategy? Have any promising fish bit our lure?"

"They're just circling so far, but that's more or less to be expected. I've been making subtle inquiries too, but it will take longer than that to make any real form of alliance."

"I figured." Draugner let out a long breath and looked up at the ceiling. "What about the other gods of the kids in that group. Should we move to a more aggressive recruitment strategy?"

Verena swilled some amber-red liquid in a glass, looking intently at it. "You know Draugner for someone who's staking half of their divinity on this plan, you seem awfully unprepared for the later stages of it."

"And you seem awfully complacent for someone who's in nearly as much trouble if this plan goes belly-up as I am. I'm not good at reading people, Verena, that's your department, that's why I made this partnership with you in the first place. If you can't make this plan work you can damn kiss your chances of divinity goodbye, because there's no way you're prying Being shards from Serinali without enough chaos to bring down even one of the most ancient of the gods."

Verena sighed, taking a long drink of her beverage. "It's a fool who hoards power that they can't use themselves. I don't know why after all these eons of faithful service she's never given them to me."

"Tyrants like to keep their pets in check. You're too useful to lose." Draugner snorted. "I thought you'd be smart enough to see that."

"Don't forget I joined you of my own volition." Verena looked askew at Draugner. "I know enough of her nature to have made my choice, but I spent long enough dreaming that it could be otherwise to make me sigh..."She looked down into the dregs of her drink for a moment. "Don't worry about our allies. I'll have the coalition ready when we reach that stage in our plans."

Draugner grinned. "You make life so easy for an old fool like me."

Verena shot him a grim look, but said nothing.

***

"So what's this thing you wanted to show me?" I had to shout as the wind rushing past us made it hard to hear anything otherwise. Rufi had taken her large form and graciously allowed me to ride on her back, but that meant Rivi was stuck flying alongside us.

"It should be right up ahead!" Rivi grinned back at me, pointing at a ridge line we were about to crest.

I kept my eyes opening, eagerly anticipating whatever was significant enough that Rivi wanted to take me out of our way to see, only to have my breath taken the next moment.

"That's…" I took in the sight in front of me, awe struck.

A huge waterfall arcing around the rim of a huge cliff plunged down into a canyon below. Spray wafted in the air, sending rainbow luminescence sparkling above the falls in the morning sunlight.

I'd never seen Niagara Falls on Earth, but I reckoned that this waterfall would rival it. In addition the arctic blue of the waters cut a stark contrast against the harsh blacks of the cliff face, complimenting the vibrant greens of the surrounding moss and foliage so well it made me wonder if I had suddenly wandered into a painting.

"It's beautiful…" I whispered as Rufi and Rivi paused in their flight to allow us to admire the scene.

"Isn't it?" Rivi chuckled at my awe. "Local legends say it's the blood of the old Ice Queen, flowing from her body back to the sea, so they called it Pretateregnia, meaning tears of the goddess. Of course, in reality the lake's been there long before the Ice Queen fell, and the waterfall's only gotten bigger in the past few millennia because of an increase in precipitation in the area, but well…the legends' more fun, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, is there a lake behind the waterfall? Is that why it's so wide?" I asked, still not daring to take my eyes off of the magnificent waterfall in front of me.

"Yeah, Lake Starfall, formed from a massive old crater. There's a nice town there if you want to check it out. It's a bit of a holy site for followers of the old Ice Queen."

"Hmmm," I put a finger to my chin as I tried to decide whether it'd be better to just continue on to the capital or make a stop. "Could we do some shopping?" I looked back at Rivi.

Over the past few days I had grown a bit tired of wearing the same two or three outfits. We had left the dungeon in such a hurry that there wasn't really time to do all the shopping that Rivi had initially intended for me, and there was only so much stuff that would fit me in her secret stash.

"Oh? Want some souvenirs for the road? Funny, I didn't take you for the type to go after waterfall embroidered linens, and magic diagrams of 'one of the five wonders of the continent.'" She spread her hand in a wide gesture. "But if that's what you really want…" She shrugged.

"I meant for clothes, dummy." I shot her a dark look, which only made the mischievous glint in her eyes glow brighter.

"Alright, alright. I'd love to play more dress-up with my dear dol—I mean Silvie."

"Shut up," I punched her in the shoulder. "It's your fault I didn't get enough clothes in the dungeon."

Rivi let out a breath, something faintly sad flickering over her expression for just a moment before vanishing. "Fair enough. Then, to Greybeak!"

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